On the Challenges of Sleeping Abroad

And Alarm Clock wept, for there were no more Eric's to conquer.

  

Oh how I wish I could say that Day 2 in Sri Lanka was easier than Day 1.  Oh how I wish I could... but the weak veneer of my cocky attitude towards jetlag, fueled by some well timed plane sleep and my delicious Tranquila PM experiment, has been cracked and torn.  After a relatively productive morning of learning about the Sri Lankan criminal justice system, I was invited to grab some lunch with a couple of my co-workers and I happily accepted.  We shared a delightful meal of rice and curry, and they even got to laugh at me for employing my own fork while they engaged in the local custom of eating with ones hands.  I tried to explain to them that I didn't finish every last bit because I was saving it for dinner...little did I know, I wouldn't be making it to dinner (ominous foreshadowing noise!!)...

After wrapping up my leftovers and tossing them in the fridge so that the ants, geckos and spiders in the kitchen wont get to them, I returned to my studies but found myself a bit worn down from the day.  Apparently waking up at 530 am is still foreign to my system and I just needed a recharger nap...so I set the ol phone alarm for half an hour and down I went.  

Now, I don't know if it was simply the time difference catching up to me or if perhaps the ten-thousand mosquito bites I got so far were finally taking their toll, but I didn't wake up again until like 2am this morning...aaaand I've been up ever since.  Needless to say, I'm less than pleased about the situation.  At first I started panicking a bit, thinking that I needed to get back to sleep lest I ruin up my tight schedule and destroy my whole day.  Then I realized something - I work in my room. I can nap during the day!  Also, I don't HAVE  a set schedule... I don't HAVE minimum billables... as long as I can get my work done, I think I'm actually going to be alright!  Plus on the upside now I have some leftover curry for breakfast! All was saved!

This positive wave of optimism lasted about fourteen minutes.

Sure, this still beats having a bout of insomnia back in NYC when I knew every minute was ticking down to me waking up and joylessly droning about my daily binder making for thankless overlords, but not being able to sleep when you want to sucks no matter how you slice it.  I'm gonna chalk this one up to adjustment pains and try to stick with the Sri Lanka daily schedule I wanted to in the first place - up at the crack of dawn, and not a minute before that.  Now that I can start to see some light come up over the horizon, I'm not quite as upset to be milling about and starting my day.  I figure I'll have me some leftover curry in a couple of minutes, maybe take a mid-morning walk and hell I might even get some more research done.

All in all, it could be worse.  It could be doc review.